Genealogy Chat

Well done

When the enumerator visited houses in Victorian times, he would ask the names of the people residing there. He would then write them AS SPOKEN onto his list. So to give an example. I have in my tree Georgiana Noble,she is shown as such on the 1861 census, however on the 1851 census she is shown as Georgihannah, and on later censuses as Georgina. If you have a family name Like Byng - you must therefore look for Bing ,Buying etc. In my case Nunn has shown up as Mann, Munn.Noon depending how the enumerator heard it. BEAR IN MIND the residents more often than not could not write their own name, and so could not check the spelling. Also if you have say Charles Hasted in 1871 he may be shown as Chas Hasted in 1881 and may be Charles Hastead in 1901, so try a few options it worked for me,especially when I found people on censuses either side, This may sound elementary - but if you find your family on the bottom of a census page ALWAYS check the top of the next page - the youngest ones may be there ! also stepchildren and other VISITING relatives, that you are looking for. Good luck Maurice ( Just passed the 1000 names mark - all related )